as in to frighten
to strike with fear
that foolish woman would be scarified by a mouse
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Recent Examples of scarify
Some will confine their mess to pixels, but surely others will scarify the walls and stain the floors.
—
Justin Davidson, Curbed, 23 Sep. 2021
And some on the platform feel free enough to verbally poke a pop star or scarify Spotify.
—Bill Hochberg, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2021
Justin Davidson, Curbed, 23 Sep. 2021
And some on the platform feel free enough to verbally poke a pop star or scarify Spotify.
—Bill Hochberg, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scarify
Verb
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Most give up halfway, frightened by the warnings of those below.—
Sudhir Gupta,
Forbes.com,
11 Aug. 2025
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While the notion might frighten fans who have Thursday nights perpetually blocked off on their calendars, shorter episodes could prove beneficial in giving the Critical Role founders a little bit of a break.—
Dana Reboe,
Rolling Stone,
7 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Some, scared off by the complexity of picking a policy and by the price tags, tumble over the edge and go without insurance in a health system where the rate for an emergency room visit can be thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars.—
Elisabeth Rosenthal,
Miami Herald,
12 Aug. 2025
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Effectively scaring a bear also reinforces the person as dominant in an encounter, so the bear learns to avoid people.—
Staff report,
Hartford Courant,
9 Aug. 2025
Verb
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These are the hallmarks of the Alien franchise, which have remained mostly consistent across the seven movies (plus two vacuous Alien vs. Predator crossovers) that have kept those terrifying Xenomorphs coming back to our screens every decade since the original premiered in 1979.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
5 Aug. 2025
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She too is terrified of facing her father, played by Cheon Ho-jin.—
Joan MacDonald,
Forbes.com,
2 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Also, when purchasing hiking gear to wear for gorilla trekking, buy only neutral colors—like army green, khaki, black, and tan — to avoid startling them and drawing extra attention to yourself.—
Claire Gallam,
Travel + Leisure,
23 July 2025
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However, the unexpected authenticity of the situation to her Memphis roots initially startled the artist.—
Marcus K. Dowling,
The Tennessean,
2 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scarify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scarify. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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